AC/DC

[Anonymous]

What's the difference between AC and DC power? what do you run on each current?

[Jacktal]

A world of difference indeed.DC(Direct Current)is carried on two leads(wires),one being the positive lead and the other one negative and this situation is constant.To help visualize this,imagine plumbing being your wires and water being your current.You have two tubes carrying water,one from a source to a destination(equipment,etc) and the other one carrying the water back to the source,thus completing the necessary loop for electricity to work.Hydraulics also work like this by the way.

AC(Alternating Current)on the other hand,is constantly moving the polarities(+and-)from one wire to the other at frequencies called cycles.It can also be called oscillating current.

I'm pretty sure someone else on this forum can tell you more on AC as I don't have full knowledge of this type of current and don't want to give out incomplete or misleading information,but what I just said is pretty much the basic way it works.

[Anonymous]

wasn't AC/DC a band from the 80's?

[nfmisso]

If you look at the AC power line in an American house, nominally 110Volts, 60 Hz, with an oscilloscope (or a deivce that grabs a picture over time), you will see a sinusoidal wave form that varies between approximately +160V and -160V, with a period of 0.0167 second (60 cycles per second). If you look at a DC system, it should be a straight line at the rated voltage.

[michaelstevens]

Hi NTDN,

That band may well still be in existence -- but

(i) the lead singer wears shorts -- so he never got beyond the "trainspotter" stage

(ii) they're from Australia -- how can trains stay on the tracks, down-under ? (only joking - for any Aussie members !)

Happy Xmas !!

[BR60103]

Generally, AC is used for accessories -- lights and switch machines and such. DC is used for locomotive motors, except toy trains which use AC.
Except DCC uses AC on the tracks but in a different form.
Some slow motion switch machines (e.g. Tortoise) use DC.
There were a few Lionel trains that used DC.
Marklin may be the only HO and smaller trains that use AC.
except ...
(you get the idea)

[Anonymous]

i heard on the news a while ago that the pope had denounced the band AC/DC on account of the band name being short for Anti-Christ/Death to Christ.

as you can imagine this was a shock to the band who thought they were named after Alternating Current/Direct Current. Obviously the pope doesn't have a model railway or he would never have made that mistake!

[michaelstevens]

[8D]
Yeah Neil,
[:)]
The pope also (very probably) doesn't have a sense of humour, with respect to matters of indeterminate sexual orientation -- which is what I had always assumed the band's name was all about !!
[:D][:D]

[Anonymous]

Hello Michael,

Actually that's wee Angus with the shorts, he's the lead guitarist. The singer(s) were both grown-ups. Whether the band knew what Power AC/DC meant other than as the sign on their sisters sewing machine is doubtful, dropping the Power from their name was not their smartest move. I would think that any line of lyrics from these testosterone dripping Scottish rockers from Oz would remove any question.

As far as the topic is concerned, Direct current is a limited and inefficient method of distributing electrical power, luckily this makes for simple circuit design and easy wiring. The book of electrical theory only needs one page for DC the rest of the book is AC.